Elrar has left the Building

In a surprising and disappointing announcement, it was posted that Elrar, one of the best loved and respected Community Managers for Rift is no longer with Trion

As we mentioned last week, we are undergoing some changes here at Trion and that also includes changes among your community team. In addition to all the names you already know on the Dev Tracker, you’ll want to keep an eye out for me, OverloadUT, and Morgana – we’ll be around a lot more from here on out. I’ll also be your main point of contact for all things community as Elrar is no longer with the company.

When Icewatch shard got split into two and we had to move, some muppet thought it would be a "funny" move to make level 1 chars with well known player char names resulting in a few of us transferring and finding our char names taken

Elrar went well above the call of duty and worked away to get my name restored to me

I hope he left because he found a better job. However I got a bad feeling he got laid off Either way this is very upsetting news. Seems all we have gotten since Hartsman has come back is negative news.. I hope we get some actual good news soon. I also hope we get an actual good bye post from Elrar but I am not holding my breath..

It seems they weren't joking when they said changes would be coming thick and fast now that Scott is the CEO. With the EU office being shut down and Elrar being shown the door, the community team must be seriously sparse right now, and it's a wonder they have time to post anything at all. That being said, you need to clear out the old to bring in the new: if anything they say is to be believed, Scott has a clear plan for what the company needs right now, and he's ready to make some unpleasant decisions to make it happen.

When Scott left, I remember reading that internal office politics and a culture unwilling to do what needed to be done were his primary issues. If I didn't just make that up, then it makes sense to me that the biggest impact of Scott's return will be felt by the some of the central figures at Trion. I'm optimistic, because things have clearly been going downhill for Trion over the last year, so a big change of course could mean a revival of the company. I don't know where Elrar fits into that picture, but I can only choose to trust that the people in charge know what they're doing. Both Daglar and Scott clearly have a deep love for Rift, and I think they'll fight hard to keep the game alive.

Edit: Scott will be on Livestream this afternoon, and might answer some questions. Also I get the impression from Dahanese's posts that there might be some kind of 'state of the company' announcement some time next week, in which questions like what'll be happening for the EU community get answered.

That is a bit sad. I was fond of the guy. I did curse him a bit for not being more engaging during the brief dry-spell as Rift made a transition to F2P, but I guess he would have to follow company policy at the time.

It's the nature of the software business. I do wish him well, however.

This is honestly the most concerning news I've heard with regards to the Rift team thus far, and sorta Trion as a whole. Elrar was absolutely the most public face of Rift (Daglar not far behind) and is probably the most widely liked CM for a major game I've ever seen. He'll be sorely missed.

Like, I'm honestly really blown away by this, because there was no indication of any possible changes to the Rift team, especially someone like him. The Defiance team and their global operations? Yeah, Defiance bombed quite hard and that's impacting their efforts elsewhere, but I was hoping the Rift team could be spared from any fallout.

I know Hartsman is moving quickly to try to get things shaped up, but this is a really bad move for them to maintain confidence in the community for the only game that's actually making them money right now...

As I know he comes here, best wishes, James "Elrar" Nichols. You did an amazing job with everything I had the pleasure of watching/reading/seeing you do. I hope you have no issues at all getting another job, because for the longest time, you were one of the biggest reasons I kept playing Rift: simply I believed in the team, who's face was largely yours.

I hope he left because he found a better job. However I got a bad feeling he got laid off Either way this is very upsetting news. Seems all we have gotten since Hartsman has come back is negative news.. I hope we get some actual good news soon. I also hope we get an actual good bye post from Elrar but I am not holding my breath..

Things always get worse before they get better. Sometime, you have to make a mess to clean up. Now, not saying Elrar deserved to go and in this case I hope it is that he left of his own free will. However, this could explain a lot of the other negative news we have been receiving.

All indications are that they're contracting the community team at Trion to be just a few(3 only for the moment) who handle duties across all Trion Projects. Scott Hartsman on the stream today said that the company (not using his exact words here) is essentially losing money and cutbacks are needed. He also cited in the stream that they're not going to be attending any upcoming gaming conventions etc either for the financial reasons. Also, he said he was heading to Austin's site next week. I can only imagine the Austin people are updating their resumes as I type this :/

I won't be long - but wanted to say it has been the utmost pleasure getting to spend each day with all of you who make up the RIFT Community. You will be missed & I will fondly remember the time we had together.

Not sure what my future holds at this point, but I'm excited for the possibilities - gaming or beyond! I hold no ill will towards Trion or the folks still working hard to succeed today. The RIFT development team is full of kick-ass individuals who very much share the same passion for the game that I shared with you.

While I've never really used it, I'm going to try out managing my own Twitter account to better stay in touch with those who want to: www.twitter.com/GiantApproved

I'm also musing a Twitch channel, at least with my new-found free time, if I start anything up it would be at www.twitch.tv/elrar

Good luck Elrar! Hope you land a new/better gig soon. Was a pleasure to see you in livestreams and hopping in places like this to make us feel appreciated. Thanks for all the hard work you put into this, it absolutely made a huge impact on a lot of people.

I won't be long - but wanted to say it has been the utmost pleasure getting to spend each day with all of you who make up the RIFT Community. You will be missed & I will fondly remember the time we had together.

Not sure what my future holds at this point, but I'm excited for the possibilities - gaming or beyond! I hold no ill will towards Trion or the folks still working hard to succeed today. The RIFT development team is full of kick-ass individuals who very much share the same passion for the game that I shared with you.

While I've never really used it, I'm going to try out managing my own Twitter account to better stay in touch with those who want to: www.twitter.com/GiantApproved

I'm also musing a Twitch channel, at least with my new-found free time, if I start anything up it would be at www.twitch.tv/elrar

Thanks again everyone & my best wishes to you all

I wish you the best Elrar. The next game that snaps you up is going to be very fortunate indeed because of your passion and dedication to what you did with Rift. I dont know how flexible your situation is with regards to being able to move from one location to another but Im sure there are plenty of companies established and up and coming that would love to see your resume across their desks.